>> good job on way too early, bill. >> not bad, right? >> very nice. you're coming along just fine. >> what part of me did you like the best? >> oh, good god. >> i know which part. >> oh, my lord! >> i'm joking, pat. i love you. >> thanks for coming on. >> i love you, too, joe. >> now she's naked on the cover of "gq." >> she's not naked. >> no. >> next year. >> yeah. okay. that's quite a month. >> what we learned today. >> leigh, what did you learn? >> i learned there's a lot of good in the job numbers specifically the decline in the long-term unemployment, i think it's a great thing and i also heard about the sad passing of a real new yorker in ed koch. >> what did you learn? >> i learned andrew is here. he's taking my version of what we learned today. tell us about your dad, andrew. >> we're on tv. don't say a word. >> it's good to have you here. >> tall. >> i learned he's a tall guy.

sort of got the prince harry thing going. >> a look-alike, nice. >> he dressed well. >> happy belated birthday, my man. all right, very good. mika, if it's way too early, what time is it? >> it's time for "morning joe," but now it's time for "the daily rundown" with chuck todd. have a great weekend, everyone. the breaking news this morning, the brand-new jobs report. shows the country adding just over 150,000 jobs in january. but the bigger news is, revisions in november and december are up by over 100,000 and more jobs each month. and more -- less -- fewer unemployed americans are finding reasons to stay off the rolls. the ays have it but not the eyes, chuck hagel gets clubbed on senate republicans on israel, iran, iraq, and more. the white house is still confident they'll have enough votes to make it -- to get hagel

to the pentagon, but let's be honest, it's been ugly so far. and the country says good-bye to one of its most outspoken and color mayors, ed koch, likes to say how am i doing, history would say he's done a pretty good job of leading new york into a new era. good morning from washington, it's friday, february 1st, 2013. let's get to the first read of the morning. i'll get to the jobs report in a minute, but i want to get to hagel. i want to start there. no doubt chuck hagel had a rough outing before the armed services committee, the question is whether hostility to hagel's nomination breaks down so completely along partisan lines. that he's still able to survive. there's clearly a lot of republican opposition to hagel, some of it may be personal. the white house for now is chalking up the eight painful hours to political theatrics and believe these republican senators were simply tougher on hagel than they were on john kerry or on john brennan because they view hagel as a turncoat,

but, wow, did hagel just sit there and allow himself to get flogged. >> i have already stated that i regret the terminology. i've already noted that i -- that i should have used another term. the bigger point is what i was saying, i think -- what i meant to say, should have said, it's recognizable. it's been recognized, is recognized. i should have said recognized instead of legitimate. i said it, and i don't remember the context or when i said it. well, i've said what i said. i've said many, many things over many years. that's what i should have said, and thank you. >> notice the pattern there. anyway, time and time again hagel would get hammered, beaten up by republicans, fumble, and the democratic senators would have to jump in and bail him out. the most painful example? when hagel stumbled on iran saying the obama administration supports containment and calling iran an elected legitimate government. >> i've just been handed a note

that i misspoke and said i supported the president's position on containment. if i said that, i meant to say that i obviously -- his position on containment, we don't have a position on containment. >> just to make sure your correction is clear, we do have a position on containment, which is that we do not favor containment. >> yet another example of a democratic senator having to correct chuck hagel. two topics dominated the hearing, one was iran and the other was something that members of the senate almost obsessively could not stop talking about. >> israel. >> of israel. >> israel. >> on israel. >> israel. >> israel. >> israel. >> israel. >> supporting of israel. >> israel. pro-israel. >> hagel repeatedly proclaimed support for israel, but at times even democrats wanted more reassurance. though hagel did prep sessions in advance, he appeared unprepared for questions that we all knew were coming. he was manhandled by south

carolina senator lindsey graham over his 2006 reference to the, quote, jewish lobby. >> name one person in your opinion who's intimidated by the israeli lobby in the united states senate. >> well, first -- >> name one. >> i don't know. >> name one dumb thing we've been goaded into doing because of the pressure from the israeli or jewish lobby. >> i have already stated that i regret the terminology. >> but you -- >> by the way, though, hagel was asked exhaustively about past conflicts and potential future conflicts. he was asked almost nothing about the war we're still in right now. during the hearing there were 178 mentions of israel. nearly five times the number of mentions of afghanistan which got just 38 mentions. in fact, when buzz feed did a word cloud of the hearing based on the transcript, afghanistan didn't even make it on their word cloud because it didn't come up enough.

folks, we have 66,000 troops still stationed in afghanistan, some questions deserve to be asked. it was hagel's former republican colleagues and even friends who staged the coordinated attack on this nomination, in the weeks he spent in one-on-one meetings with gop senators didn't seem to help him. fellow vietnam veterans john mccain and hagel were mavericks in the senate. in 2000 hagel co-chaired mccain's campaign. he was only one of a handful of senators who endorsed him and at a town hall in nashua, new hampshire, mccain even floated this possibility -- >> as far as secretary of defense is concerned, there's a lot of people that could do that. one of them i think is senator chuck hagel. >> but yesterday the air in the hearing room was thick. maybe it was bitterness. we don't know. mccain may feel about his old friend as mccain hammered hagel for the opposition to the 2007 troop surge in iraq.

>> were you correct or incorrect, yes or no? >> my reference to the surge being -- >> are you going to anxious the question, senator hagel? the question is, were you right or wrong? that's a pretty straightforward question. >> well, i'm not going to give you a -- a yes-or-no answer on a lot of things. >> let the record show you refused to answer that question. >> by the way, incoming secretary of state john kerry who glided through his nomination hearing was also opposed to the iraq surge. republican senators who hadn't much criticized hagel before the hearing rushed to do so during and after it. florida's marco rubio said he would not support him. lindsey graham said it's not looking good. alabama's jeff sessions called himself uneasy about hagel's answers. but is it enough to sink the nomination? you're unlikely to see a democrat vote against him or peel off against him today, in fact, the hostile republican questioning might make democrats more united. and do republicans really want

to filibuster the defense secretary nominee? one of their former colleagues who served in vietnam. meanwhile, if you needed an example of why cutting budgets is so politically hard in congress, notice how many of them from both sides of the aisle, mind you, had no problem getting in pitches and plugs for their own home state defense projects. >> on this strategic issues, i wonder if i could talk to you for a moment about submarines. >> air force academy is well positioned to train those new cybersecurity experts. we're also the home of space command. >> there's a ceremony in arlington tonight for the commissioning of a new amfib, the "uss arlington." >> north carolina we have seven military institutions, installations. >> particularly of concern to us in maine and other parts of the country, the multiyear procurement program. >> i share the important work done at the portsmouth naval shipyard. >> the senators join me in

inviting you to come and visit the portsmouth naval shipyard. >> i wonder if they are worried about sequester? just like twitter and instant analysis shaped history's sense of romney's field speech, solicitor general virilly supreme court argument and president obama's first debate made it all seem worse and it didn't help hagel yesterday. but romney went on to win the gop nomination and the supreme court upheld the health care law and obama won the general election by four points. yes, hagel bombed on style. but did he bomb enough to cost him the job of the secretary of defense? it doesn't look like it this morning. turning to the january jobs report, no big surprises in this month's numbers, and although there were some major revisions to take into account for the end of 2012, first the top-line numbers. 157,000 jobs were added in january. almost exactly what analysts had been expecting. the analysts were right on this front this time. the unemployment rate ticked up a tenth of a point to 7.9% but

the real headline is what happened to the numbers in november and december. the government now reports 247,000 jobs were added in november. that's up from the original mark of 161,000. and, by the way, that's the highest mark since february of last year. december jobs were -- were revised from 155,000 to 196,000. back to january's numbers. here are the sectors that saw the biggest changes -- retail added 33,000 jobs. construction added 28,000. health care added 23,000. transportation lost 14,000. and government, once again, lost 9,000. mostly at the federal level. well, if it's friday, and it's a jobs report, it's mark zandi, the chief economist for moody's analytics. mark, happy new year, i think this is our first one of the new year so -- >> i heard the crack about the analysts and their job predictions. >> you guys nailed it! come on, man. it is almost -- i've never seen you guys this close within 2,000

according to what my favorite e-mail -- >> you don't pay enough attention. >> no, i tease. this -- what's the bigger headline, the report this morning or those revisions from november and december? >> i think the revisions. and it wasn't only to november and december. the bureau of labor statistics revised the data much further back in time and they were big upward revisions, so we got a lot more jobs in 2012 than we originally estimated and that, of course, is very good news. >> i want to -- you look at all the numbers we got this week, the gdp report, the economy technically shrinking by 0.1 for the fourth quarter and most of it being chalked up to government -- to the lack of government spending particularly in the defense industry. and yet there were other parts of it in the private sector that looked strong. what's the reality here? are we an economy that's growing, that's recovering, or are we in an economy that's still on shaky ground? >> we're growing and we're

recovering. the economy as measured by, say, gdp, that's kind of the economy's bottom line, that's the value of all the things we produce, that's been going 2%, 2.5%, and i don't think it's changed, that's about what we're growing right now. that's okay. but it's certainly not good enough in the context of the 7%, now 7.9% unemployment rate. yes, the economy is growing. yes, with each passing month we're on more sound ground but, you know, i don't think anyone's going to feel really good until unemployment is below 6%. >> and the big issue continues, one of the odd issues has to be consumer confidence. and we're finding in our own polling that there may be a tie to washington gridlock in consumer confidence. because if you look at all of the other private data, housing starts are up, everything looks like it should be in better shape, but consumer confidence from december to january went down. and the intervening event was what? the fiscal cliff. we found in our own polling

people feel less confident about the economy when there's no deal in washington. is that what you guys see? >> yeah. i would say it's more dollars and cents than that, though. chuck, you know, the payroll tax holiday went away in january. everyone got their first paycheck in 2013 and said, it's a lot smaller, what's the heck's going on. and that's reflected in the confidence numbers. no one really likes the back-and-forth and vitriol in washington, it makes people nervous, particularly business people. but for consumers what really matters is the paycheck and the paycheck is smaller and they're not really comfortable with that. >> what will it take for the unemployment to get below 6% or in that range, we got to start seeing jobs added, we got to start seeing it in the 300s, in the 400s, in the 500s, when will we see it in this economy? it still feels like treading water. >> i don't think it's in the next three, six numbers, because we have to digest the tax increases and we have more government spending cuts coming.

that's going to weigh on growth. my sense is by the end of the year we'll get job growth over 200k and by 2013 when the housing markets is in full swing, it will be 300k, we should be in 300k territory in 2014 and that's when the unemployment will start coming back in a big way. >> we'll save this tape and play it for you in 2014. >> please do. >> yeah. no, it's good to see you. thanks for coming on. >> thank you. up next, the obama administration's take on the new unemployment report, that will be right here. and why the white house is shutting down the president's council on jobs. plus, blood talk, did chuck hagel manage to win over roy blunt? we'll ask him about that next. and a bomb explodes near the u.s. embassy in turkey. we're going to have the very latest on that developing story. but first, a look ahead at the president's schedule today here in washington.

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one of the things that i know quite a bit about is the f-18 line because it's in st. louis, missouri, where boeing military is. how do we keep our capacity at a time when there's a will -- this talk about cutting and not just cutting but sort of cutting everything a little bit? >> well, senator, you have just, again, identified one of the great challenges that lies

ahead, and that is, maintaining our industrial base. >> that was relatively one of the more cordial exchanges during thursday's confirmation for defense secretary nominee chuck hagel and a republican who faced a barrage of questions ranging from a little bit on sequestration, a lot on israel and some on military readiness, joining me is the man you just saw, missouri senator roy blunt. senator blunt, let me ask you about the range of questions. were there enough questions asked about afghanistan? were there enough questions asked about what you asked, which is about the issue of the budget cuts and sequestration and the defense department going forward? >> well, i thought the questions that i asked were the questions that were really the questions that whoever the next secretary of defense is, is going to have to deal with, how you manage this department, how we look to the future. do you let strat -- do you try to do your best so that strategy drives the money, you make an argument this is what you need money for, or did you just set back and see how much money the

administration and the congress gives you and then you try to spend that in the best possible way. so, i would have liked to have seen more of that, but i clearly understand from the questions yesterday the past comments and the walking away from those comments in the last couple of weeks. one of my colleagues, not on the committee yesterday, but one of them called it a confirmation conversion where suddenly all these positions are not quite what they pretty aggressively have been for a long time. >> you think too much time, though, was spent on that? >> well, i don't know how you could spend too much time on that. i do think that the secretary of defense, the national security adviser, the secretary of state are the people that are going to have a lot to say about what our country looks like in the foreign policy world for the next 25 years. maybe more than any other secretary of state and defense in a long time because clearly the president is ready to rethink our strategy, this leading from behind strategy has

not been the strategy of the country for a generation. but it looks like that's where the president wants to go, and frankly, it looks like that's where senator hagel would want to join him. >> are you a definite no vote on chuck hagel? >> yeah, i think i am. i say i think i am because i haven't announced that until now. but i've thought about this a lot since yesterday. i want to give the president the benefit of the doubt in who he can bring to his cabinet with him and who can join him in the cabinet. but in this job, at this time, things like the -- senator hagel's comments on containment. i think he really does believe, based on his statements yesterday, even though he backed away from them later, that we could contain a nuclear iran. i don't think we could contain a nuclear iran. i think it's too dangerous for us to try that. and so i will be voting no in the committee. and then assuming there's a vote on the floor, i'll be voting no on the floor. >> well, there's two -- and there's a third way to vote no

on him which, of course, is the issue of a filibuster. would you support a filibuster of chuck hagel's nomination? >> i doubt it. i doubt it. i think for somebody who's going to be there, the length of time the president serves as opposed to a supreme court judge that a majority in the senate should be able to confirm, i wouldn't intend to be part of that majority. but my -- certainly my strong inclination would be that this is a vote that should be done by a majority rather than a 60-vote standard. and this person's going to leave the day the president leaves. that makes a difference. >> let me ask you about the jobs numbers. we saw some revisions in november and december. the economy appears to be attempting to heal and recover and grow. and the irony is the big draw -- drag on the economy continues to be government contraction. we saw it in the gdp report. we saw it in this jobs report again where one of the only down sectors was government. so, how do you -- how do you

sort of -- how do you square that? >> well, if i was the president, i wouldn't want to keep lurching from crisis to crisis. i think we missed a big opportunity in november and december, and i told the white house this repeatedly as i tried to reach out and talk to them, solve these problems now. don't carry this over into a new administration. we finally have some certainty in taxes, though, the president immediately says and, by the way, we want to go back and talk about raising taxes again. you can't constantly be talking about higher taxes, more regulation, higher utility bills and expect the kind of job growth you'd like to see. >> the other thing the contraction of government is certainly having an impact, too. >> well, it is having, and the president should have worked harder to take care of that, as we all should have, in november and december. uncertainty is probably even a greater problem than contraction. if we knew what the government spending was going to be with some certainty, that would be better than this constant not

knowing, we're on the 60-day clock and then we're on the 90-day clock we need to get on a four- and five-year clock and that's why budget and appropriations bills will make a difference, chuck. >> you've been straightforward on where you stand on hagel and all these votes. how about the universal background checks on guns? i know in an interview a couple weeks ago you seemed to indicate you could support the universal background bill that chuck schumer has, maybe tom coburn ends up signing on. are you leaning in that direction? >> what i said was let's see if the senate can actually produce a bill and i'm willing to look at it. i don't think the federal government should be involved with two neighbors deciding they want to change -- they want to trade shotguns. but if there is a proposal out there that can actually come to the senate floor, i'm willing to look at it -- >> is that about the only one of these gun proposals, is that the only one you're willing to look at? >> i think it's the only one that has any real chance of happening, that's why i'm focusing my efforts on what we

can do in the mental health area. what we can do in sharing information among law enforcement and security agencies. you know, the -- two of the standards in all these cases is they had mental health problems and somebody in the community had told them not to come on their property, but that wasn't widely shared with others who knew they should be watching the same individual. >> roy blunt, republican senator from missouri, thanks for being on this morning and sharing your views. thank you, sir. up next, watch out cory booker. we'll tell you who else is contemplating a run for new jersey senator. we'll see if that cave is full. and speaking of the garden state's senate delegation, the latest on the bob menendez ethics investigation. wait until you hear what frank lautenberg has to say. and remembering a fixture of new york politics, the first america's mayor, the outspoken mayor ed koch. but the trivia question, how many states do not celebrate

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zesty rotel tomatoes and green chilies, you get a bowl of queso that makes even this get-together better. on our radar this morning a deadly attack outside the u.s. embassy in turkey. new developments in the controversy surrounding bob menendez, and hiraldo says he may take his act to capitol hill. and former new york city mayor ed koch died early this morning from heart failure. he was a larger-than-life mayor and he served three terms from the late '70s throughout most of the '80s, helped bring the city back from the brink of financial ruin in the process. beloved by his supporters and known for his flashing his trademarks thumbs-up. koch was also known for his combative style. he once wrote, i don't give ulcers, i give them. after leaving office in 1989, he stayed in the public eyes, a pundit and a food critic and even a judge on "the people's

court." andrew cuomo said he was a passionate leader who never shied away from taking a stand. don't forget ed koch beat andrew's father for mayor in 1977 and then mario beat ed for governor in 1982. and the arrangements are set for monday. ed koch was 88 ears old. the state department is confirming a terrorist attack outside the u.s. embassy outside ankara. one guard was killed when a suspected suicide bomber detonated his explosives at the embassy's side entrance. one person was injured but the embassy itself was not damaged. new jersey democratic senator bob me mendez responded first on camera regarding allegations that he visited prostitutes on a trip to the dominican republic. >> i have comments already from my office. these are nameless, faceless,

anonymous allegations. >> we'll see. while menendez is staying tight-lipped, his fellow democratic senator frank lautenberg is not. instead of rejecting the accusations out of hand, lautenberg seemed to entertain the pebt that they are true, saying this, quote, if there are infractions as they are reported, it's too bad. i think bob will survive this with his good work. this is a terrible tragedy. lautenberg meanwhile has his own political intrigue to deal with. on thursday veteran journalist hiraldo rivera said he's seriously considering a run for his seat. he told radio listeners he's been in contact with state republican party to discuss his options. rivera said today that he'll ride his harley to every town in new jersey if he decides to run. cory booker, hiraldo rivera. the fight for john kerry's seat. our gaggle of jobs friday will be here as well. [ woman ] if you have the audacity to believe

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well, john kerry will be sworn in as the new secretary of state today and the race to fill his seat is, of course, well under way. longtime massachusetts congressman ed markey through his hat in the ring early on and he gained support from kerry himself. and democratic leaders hoping to avoid a divisive primary fight. that didn't happen. now he has a primary challenger, congressman stephen lynch was quick to play up his underdog status when he jumped into the race yesterday. >> he does have the support of the establishment. he's got a lot of money, but i don't intend to purchase this election. i intend to earn it. i realize if the election were held today, i'm behind, but thank goodness it's not being held today. >> the democratic primary set for april 30th both men have started to position themselves as the man who could beat former senator scott brown who hasn't

even officially announced he's running. joining me is cnbc contributor sara taylor fagan, and fred yank, david, i'll start with you, ed markey has to face scott brown twice, once in the primary and once in the general. is that the best way to look at stephen lynch? >> it's an interesting way to look at it given his social issues. >> pro gun. >> blue collar, every man appeal. the interesting thing having covered the campaigns, the democrats with their majority approaching eight years old are finally losing control of the primary process a little bit at a time. there's a little restlessness, what we've seen in massachusetts and possibly new jersey, but it's also interesting and i think that anybody that thinks they can gauge where a special election is going to go doesn't understand specials. >> didn't follow the massachusetts senate race. >> i think it's open season. >> scott brown, if you were advising scott brown for his future in american politics, would you tell him senate or

governor? >> senate. >> you would tell him to go for the senate? >> yes. >> why? >> because it's a special election. it's easier to win a special election than it is to win a general. >> as scott brown himself found out. >> he has great name i.d., he remains popular in the state. he lost in a tough presidential year and he has a really great shot of winning that seat back. >> fred, i look, though, at that special and the great special of scott brown and all of these things and martha coakley, the horrible disastrous candidate, she had 47% of the vote. >> yes. >> this was as bad as a democratic performance as you can have in massachusetts, she got 47% of the vote. >> and still very popular after he lost and scott brown has to be asking, what more can you do? you all like me. you didn't vote for me. >> i question whether it is winnable as a federal election unless you have a candidate melting down. >> there's special elections but they are special because they only happen once, so he may have caught lightning in the bottle once. >> you think about the dynamics today versus where they were at election day for him is, look,

it's a different electorate. there's a recognition among republicans and independents that people like scott brown are a good voice in the u.s. senate. and they balance out the party, and you'll see i think more energy from republicans in that state to go do the things needed, the door knocks to get him elected. >> the risk, though, for scott brown, david, is you lose two senate seats in less than six months. >> you lose your luster completely. >> do you hold off and run for governor and maybe become governor? >> look, it's much easier to get voters of both parties to cross the aisle in state races because state issues are different than federal issues, they look at it differe differently. and brown needs to tread carefully. nobody paid attention to him in the first special election. there was an uproar over health care, it was as fred said, lightning in a battle. this time they're ready for him and they know who he is and i think it's a much tougher road. >> i'm going to -- we're going to go to jobs, we'll go to hagel, but i got to do new jersey senate. all right? come on, geraldo, is this the

best republicans can do? >> geraldo has great name i.d. what can i say? >> is it chris christie campaigning for geraldo rivera? is that just something that you can't wait to see? >> it's an interesting time if you're ever going to, you know, go for a senate seat when you're an unlikely candidate, doing it on the tails of chris christie is probably a really smart thing to do. >> but the reality of new jersey is what it is. but this -- how has cory booker handled this frank lautenberg dance? it doesn't look to me he's handled it well. >> it's a difficult situation, no doubt about it. still an incumbent u.s. senator for all intents and purposes still claims to be the incumbent u.s. senator. i don't think there's an easy way of doing it. >> i think the person who has handled it worse is frank lautenberg who is constantly out there taunting cory booker. who has a million followers on twitter. he's a good guy. he's saving dogs. he's saving people from their homes. i don't know if i would -- >> given new jersey's politics, i don't know if this could have

gone down any differently. >> that's what cory booker people claim that there's no other way to do it. >> i think cory booker could have tried to manage this understanding that lautenberg is a long-serving senator, but he's kind of a cranky old man and you need to manage personalities. >> he acts like a spoiled child. >> i'm going to ask you about -- i'll deal with bob menendez, we've got the break. don't worry. not leaving that off the table. the gaggle sticking with us but we'll hear from the white house on the just released job numbers. and on "meet the press," secretary of defense leon panetta and martin dempsey will be together. i'll be doing that interview. be watching on sunday. we'll see you then. but, first, the white house soup of the day. cajun jgumbo. we'll be right back. progresso. your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i can't stop eating 'em! what's...that... on your head? can curlers! tomato basil, potato with bacon... we've got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.

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lyrica is not for everyone. it may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, changes in eye sight including blurry vision, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or skin sores from diabetes. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain, and swelling of hands, legs, and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who've had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. having less pain... it's a wonderful feeling. [ female announcer ] ask your doctor about lyrica today. it's specific treatment for diabetic nerve pain. to hear more of phyllis's story, visit lyrica.com. let's bring back the gaggle, bob menendez, david, how's he handling this? >> so far he's handling the only

way he can. he's trying to answer as few questions as possible. >> but he offered up more information than he needed to which of course got more coverage. >> look, if there's something there, bit by bit, with "the new york times" story you see it breaking into the mainstream. i think ultimately the issue for him isn't whether, you know, he remains as a senator from new jersey but whether he can hold on to the foreign relations gavel. >> that's the part you wonder there. and, fred, frank lautenberg's response was not very supportive. you're not going to find a lot of democrats gung-ho to help him out on this. >> i think as david said, i mean, this has been -- talking about it in the green room, it's -- the problem is, it's unpredictable. >> republicans feed it, you keep feeding it, pushing it, hoping to create problems? >> i think that republicans don't need to feed it because the press is now interested enough in it that in politics where there's smoke, there's almost always some fire. >> yeah. >> and some -- >> right.

>> -- some journalist is going to figure out what is going on. >> you hate to say that there are stereotypes, but new jersey has a stiereotype in this type f thing. >> the accusation is pretty damning. >> but we've not come close to confirming it. >> that's right. >> the one issue where it could take a really bad turn for this, there have been rumors for many years about many different things ethically with bob menendez. >> the whole soup. >> dig and dig and then it just becomes an endless waterfall. pl let's go to chuck hagel. you have a lot of u.s. senators who are clients. do you think any of your clients got cold feet watching chuck hagel yesterday? >> i think a lot of the democrats are going to want to support the president. even senator blunt. >> i thought the filibuster comment was pretty important. and that's sort of where this is -- why hagel's going to get confirmed. >> that is right. >> and that's where this is headed, isn't it? >> it is. >> he won't get filibustered and

he'll get maybe two republican votes. >> even if he didn't do as well as you would have pex expected to do, given his experience sitting on the panels, i didn't see it live, but when i read the clips from right conservative organizations, i expected that it was awful. when i went back and looked at it, it wasn't that bad. >> his performance stunk. >> his performance was a disaster, but he didn't lose democrats you can tell from the questioning. >> did you really think it was that bad? >> it was awful. >> defending health care -- >> the problem is republicans are going to want -- republicans are going to want to filibuster some things. they don't want to waste it on hagel. they'll save it for the budget issues. the trivia question, how many states do not celebrate groundhog day? the answer is just one. it's alaska. you guys are going to love this. in 2009 then governor sarah palin signed a bill to make every february 2nd marmot day,

there aren't that many groundhog in alaska, so why not do marmots. we'll be right back. all stations come over to mission a for a final go. this is for real this time. step seven point two one two. verify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers.

is there a disconnect between the way the public perceives the economy and what's really happening? today's jobs report shows the economy created 127,000 more jobs than originally thought in november and december. just the latest not a string of positive indicators that are pushing the dow closer to 14,000, consumer spending, income, home prices, business investment all are up. and yet despite the public remains pessimistic. nbc and "the wall street journal" found in our last poll just 27% of americans are

satisfied with the state of the u.s. economy. aconsumer confidence is down dramatically, 66.7% to 58.6% in january. and joining me is alan krueger, on the council of the economic advisers for the president. we got the jobs report and i know what you'll probably say on that, good, trend lines, all this stuff, we have this conversation every month. but i want to ask you more about the gdp numbers, because it had all positive indicators, and yet what brought it down was government. what's bringing consumer confidence down is the government gridlock. so is washington the biggest problem for the economy? >> i think certainly a major risk that we face is that washington can make mistakes. gridlock in congress that will fail to take the steps, that will strengthen the economy and put us on a sustainable budget, bring our deficits down in a responsible, balanced way. >> does the president -- considering what the defense cuts did to the contraction of

the u.s. economy in the fourth quarter, dois the president goi to be more aggressive in trying to find a way to stop the so-called sequester, the automatic defense cuts that would go through, which could it looks like now -- we already know the economic impact defense cuts have had last quarter. these would obviously slow down the economy even more. is the president going to refocus on this. >> the president has been focused on this for some time. the president made a submission to the super committee a year ago or so, which would have reduced our deficits in a balanced way, eliminated the sequester and his negotiations with the congress on the fiscal cliff. he did the same thing. so this is something that the president has provided a plan. the sequester is bad policy. it's something that we should eliminate. it wasn't intended to take place. and we got a taste for the impact that the sequester might have if it were to take place with the last gdp numbers.

and also, i would emphasize that in addition to the broader effect oppose the economy, cutting head start indiscriminately, cutting essential services that people rely on is not good for the country. >> why did the white house eliminate the jobs council? >> the president created the jobs council, as you know. it was given a two-year charter. the jobs council made a number of very helpful recommendations. we followed up on over 90% of the ones we could. we have implemented things like making it easier for foreigners to travel to the u.s. and help our tourism industry. we continue to engage with members of the jobs council. i think the president has found it very beneficial to meet with members of the business community, labor, other experts. you saw several meetings the president held with business leaders and other leaders around the fiscal negotiations. and he's going to continue that engagement, use it in a productive way. >> do we understand why people look at it and the shutdown of

the jobs council after the re-election into the second term that was the jobs council just sort of a political billboard for the campaign? >> no, i don't think that's right. the jobs council was very helpful in making recommendations. the president is going to continue to reach out, engage with the business community and others to get the best ideas that we can to help build a stronger economy and help strengthen the middle class. >> allen krueger, chairman of the president's council of economic advisers, chief economist for the president. thanks for coming on. happy jobs friday. >> my pleasure, nice to see you. >> let's bring back the gaggle. the economy, sara, it seems, there is this disconnect. and what i found interesting about the gdp report is that it messed up everybody's talking point. so the democrats have been trying to say, hey, look, the economy is growing. not growing. except why didn't it grow? government spending went down. so the republican argument, if we've got to contract -- nobody's talking point was benefited from the gdp.

>> i think what is very clear from gdp in this new jobs report is that government is the problem. because they are creating an environment of uncertainty, which they have been doing for some time now. and they are -- there's too much regulation. so you combine people's fears of too much regulation, a lot of these health care regulations now starting to kick in. it's a problem. >> you think -- you look at these government data, we see the shrinking of government spending, this one was all federal work. >> i think part of the problem is, first of all, there's still a lack of confidence in government policies in the wider business community and especially among small businesses that are usually responsible for so much job growth. but the other problem is that at the same time you have the sequester, which is sucking money out of the private economy, by a lack of government spending, you have tax increases, which are further sucking money out of the private economy, bringing it back to washington. and you need, if you're going to do all of that, a way for

washington, through policy, to foster private sector investment and get money into the private sector. and so if you don't have that combination, chuck, this is where you end up with problems like the ones we're facing. >> the government doesn't make a profit. and that's a big part of the problem here. >> but the economic pr, we saw with the defense, the president said everybody claims they're against sequester. nobody is publicly trying to stop it. there isn't a campaign -- the president is going to campaign next week on guns, campaigned this week on immigration -- try and build support. perfectly fine. we know it's part of his agenda. does he need to start traveling the country and talking about, hey, we can't let sequester happen. >> no, look, i think he won re-election by a decent margin, because people saw progress. and there is -- there are two candidates with competing visions. i think you need that kind of clarity in his economic debate. no, i think these -- >> he hasn't created enough clarity? >> well, the clarity ended with the election. >> is there support and sequester? i don't really think it's there.

enough house republicans or from the white house. and that's why it's going to happen -- >> public opinion, very supportive of defense cuts. shameless plugs. sara, you first. >> ed koch, great american, in 2000 endorsed bush. pay for his family. >> stevie from malden. check roll call and joshua miller for the massachusetts senate. >> say it in a boston accent. >> and my daughter's second grade academy team, season opener tomorrow morning, second grade basketball. >> very important. i'm wearing a red tie today because it's national wear red day, promoting awareness for heart disease. it kills approximately one woman in this country every minute. go get your blood pressure checked. i did. i now am watching it very carefully. you should too. that's it for this edition of "the daily rundown" . see you right back here monday. coming up next, chris jansing. bye-bye. [ whistle blows ] hi victor! mom?

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